National Defense

| April 7, 2011 - 2:54pm

East Hampton

March 28, 2011

To the Editor,

As a longtime part-time resident of East Hampton and western Nassau County, I was amazed as to how many anti-Bush demonstrations we would encounter going from place to place in the 10 months preceding the 2008 presidential election. Some, especially the one in front of the Southampton 7-Eleven, were ultra-noisy and disgraceful. They were comparing President Bush to every tyrant throughout history for the Iraq war that he was condoning.

At the end of 2007 The Boston Globe asked the presidential candidates, “In what circumstances, if any, would the president have constitutional authority to bomb Iran without seeking a use-of-force authorization from Congress?” When it came his turn, Barack Obama answered that the president does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.

According to his own standard, Mr. Obama violated the Constitution when he ordered a military attack against Libya. In this instance, nowhere was our national defense in the least bit threatened.

Of course, his rationale would be that he was adhering to the wishes of the United Nations and of many Arab states. These are the same wealthy countries that are not lending any financial support to this costly venture by the United States. Where are these protestors now? Can they possibly be held accountable for a double standard?